Anti-occupation advocates never tire of telling us how deeply they care. - by Raymond M. Berger

...Their anti-occupation stance enhances their status among their reference groups. Those reference groups include liberals, liberal politicians and academics. In this way, anti-occupation Jews win the approval of their peers and thus, career advancement. This is especially true on today’s US college campuses. And, being an anti-occupation advocate hardly requires a life of poverty, especially for its leaders. For example, in 2016, Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of J Street, earned annual compensation of $259,203. That year, Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc, earned $233,579. Not a bad gig if you can get it.

Raymond M. Berger..
TOI Blogs..
18 February '19..

Anti-occupation advocates never tire of telling us how deeply they care.

The on-line encyclopedia, Wikipedia, lists a startling number of “Jewish Anti-Occupation” groups—-22 in all. Most of these organizations are based outside Israel, many in the US. These groups reflect a significant segment of Jewish sentiment in North America and Europe.

A Complex Debate

The belief that Israel should withdraw from Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) is based on a number of arguments: that Judea and Samaria rightfully belong to Arabs and not to Jews; Jewish settlement of these areas violates Arab rights; the existence of Israeli settlements violates international law; peace is not possible as long as Israel retains sovereignty in Judea and Samaria; no future state of Palestine would be politically or economically viable without all or most of Judea and Samaria; continued occupation erodes Israeli morality; occupation makes a democratic Israel impossible; and Arab population growth would overtake Jewish population growth, rendering a Jewish state totalitarian, as it sought to govern an Arab-majority population. These arguments have been hotly debated outside and inside Jewish communities.

In this post I want to address the questions: Should Israel withdraw from Judea and Samaria? And why do many Jews outside of Israel pressure Israel to do so?

In this post I cannot address the full range of complex issues that underlie these questions. As an observer and pro-Israel partisan, I have my own ideas.

I feel the way most Israelis do. I love the Land of Israel, land that encompasses territory on which Jews have lived for over 3,000 years. The historic Land of Israel lies precisely in the area that Palestinians want for a state of their own.

At the same time, I don’t savor the idea of Israel ruling over people who are hostile to Jews and resentful of Israel. It doesn’t help that Palestinians living in areas today controlled by Israel are among the world’s most anti-Semitic people.

But there is an inescapable conclusion: Without Israeli control of Judea and Samaria, Israel is vulnerable to attack by its enemies.

Enemies, Borders, Maps

Palestinians, as well as Arab leaders, have been engaged in a relentless war of expulsion and genocide against the Jews. The notion of Jewish sovereignty is deeply offensive to most Arab Muslims. They have an unshakeable belief that the Jews are an element that is both inferior to Muslims and alien to their “Muslim lands.” These beliefs are deeply rooted in religion and have been relentlessly inculcated into Arab children by means of every societal institution in the Palestinian world: mosques, schools, sports teams, civil society institutions, as well as traditional and social media. These beliefs will not change.

(Continue to Full Post)

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